I am new to quilting. I LOVE it, but I can not get the hang of binding. I do not know the proper terminology but... I have my quilt top done and then i have my backing and my stuffing (?) but im not sure how to do the binding. Do you fold the edges of the binding underneath? And is it supposed to be sewn tight so that the edges of the quilt top and stuffing and backing are inside the crease of the binding? Do you know of any pictures anywhere that may help as well. thank you SO much for your time and patience.

Christina (momto4)

Hi and welcome.

Your stuffing is called batting. Is your quilt quilted yet? Let's take one step at a time. Quilting is when by one way or another, you make sure your 3 layers are held together. Once we know that we can help you more.

Maria

Search for how to do quilt binding at youtube. You'll get lots of video on different ways to do it. I don't think there is nothing about quilting that is not on youtube.

No my pieces are not together yet. I was unsure whether I was supposed to quilt them together first or put the binding on first. The only part I have down pat is the quilt top part. heh. That seems like the easy part. Thanks for any help you can provide! I will also check youtube.

ok so your next step is to put your top, batting and backing together. I have wooden floors so I tape my backing to the floor and then layer the batting and my top on. Your batting and your backing should be 3 to 4 inches bigger than your top. Once that is done, you must baste or pin all layers together so it doesn`t shift when you are quilting. Once basted or pinned (there are special saftey pins you can use ) you can then start to quilt......and thats a whole other topic with many opinions. So just take it one step at a time!
Hope that helps.

Yes very much so. Thank you! I am going to be trying to hand quilt as my quilt is a queen size and I do not have a free arm on my sewing machine so i think it would be pretty difficult so that will definitely take me some time. :) Thank you for all of you help it is MUCH appreciated.

Do you have a library or a bookstore nearby? As a newbie quilter, it would really be beneficial to take a look at some of the explanations in print and get a better idea of how to do the individual steps.

You are putting a bit of money into all your supplies - let alone the time it takes. May be worth a little more reading. :wink:

I just purchased i think 6 books from ebay and the local quilt shop. We just moved to a new town and have a lot more resources than we did before so I am jumping in head first! :D Even if im not great at it... I truly do enjoy it and figure getting good will come with time. Thank you so much for the tips as well. :) I have a lot of reading to do for sure! :D

Next to basting, binding is my least favorite part of the quilt making process. I'm a bit of a cheater when I do my binding b/c I buy premade quilt binding at Wal-Mart or Jo-Ann's. I use a strait stitch to attach is the top of the quilt and then turn it over, pin it to the back and use a zig-zag stitch to attach the binding to the back. It ends up zigzagging through all three layers. To hide it, I use a thread color that matches the binding.

I'm a horrible hand sewer and can't keep my stitch length even. :roll:

Hi:

If you send :D me a private message I will see if I can help[ you with some web sites you can possibly try.

Don"t give up just slow down and learn as you fo along.

ef